Buckets and Buckets
by hagfisher
Summary: Human!AU. Thomas and Percy love playing pranks but they end up upsetting Gordon. In response, Gordon plays a prank on Percy that goes too far with unexpected consequences, resulting in the iconic Steam Team permanently losing a valued member, and scarring another.
1. Chapter 1: Pranks

Pranks

Thomas and Percy, an iconic duo, would go about pulling their pranks. Fun tricks and cheeky mischief would be on their schedule for when they had the days off. To interfere with the safety on the railroad would cost them their jobs so they instead concentrated their pranks in the break room or, if they had the keys, in the employee apartments. This couldn't be better exemplified than when James returned to his flat and heard his name being called.

"James!"

He looked around, seeing nothing but still hearing his name.

"Who's there?"

"I am!" The voice responded. A bit higher pitched and almost nasal — James confirmed that he was bearing Philip.

"Philip? Where are you? How'd you get in here?"

"I'm up here, James!"

And looking up would reveal to the red-loving conductor that Philip was taped to the ceiling. His entire body had been attached via strong tape and his bowl cut hair was frayed from being in contact with the surface.

"Who would attach you to the bloody ceiling?" James brushed his hair back and scowled.

"Thomas and Percy asked if I wanted to surprise you! I guess I did, didn't I?"

Philip gave a grin, playful and innocent enough. He even asked politely for help returning to ground level. But James would have none of that and proceeded to slam the door shut. The force of the door slamming shut caused Philip to come loose and he fell to the floor.

Through the door James could hear a muffled Philip.

"Thanks!"

And James stormed off to find the two culprits who had so brashly taped Philip to the apartment ceiling. He would, searching around Tidmouth sheds, find a rather cross looking Edward who was completely soaked with water. The older man had a towel and was trying to dry off but his heavy wool uniform was just saturated.

"What happened to you, Edward?"

"Thomas. And probably Percy. They messed with the sink and now I'm absolutely soaked. I think they meant it for Henry but instead I caught it."

"They taped Philip to my ceiling," James said. He got an interesting look. "They taped him there and he only came loose when I slammed the door."

Edward raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure that you tried anything other than slamming the door shut?"

"So I didn't try anything else. Philip still came loose." But the look he was getting from Edward made James duck out of the way. "I'm just going to continue looking for Thomas and Percy."

"Someone needs to make sure Philip didn't break anything."

"What could possibly break! You can't break a carpet."

"I didn't mean the carpet, I meant his bones, James."

But James had hurried away by that point. He was set on finding the two pranksters and he did find them. They were both making sure the locomotive they had worked with was all done for the day, tidying up and looking for any damage. They had been working on the number one engine and someone had stained the side of it with handprints, which Percy was trying to wipe away.

"You two!" James said, pointing at them. Percy emitted a shriek and threw a coal stained glove at him. The glove, fitted for the left hand, was missing two fingers and it landed atop James' head.

"Oh, it's just you, James. I thought you were a monster or Toby."

Thomas snickered. "Toby is a monster, Percy. I thought you knew that."

"I don't care what you know!" James cut in. "You two taped Philip to my ceiling. How… how long was he taped up there?"

Thomas had to think about it. "Percy, when did we go on break?"

"An hour ago? We took a late break."

James wasn't going to have any of that guff and so he threw his arms into the air. "And what if I hadn't come to my apartment? Philip could still be on the ceiling."

"But he's not and that's the important part," Thomas mentioned.

"And besides, we told Sidney about it and to check in on him later tonight." Percy extended a hand to James. "Glove?"

James threw the glove over his shoulder and watched as Percy scrambled down to fetch it.

"You didn't have to throw it, James," Percy scolded.

"You didn't have to tape an intern to my ceiling! How did you even get in my apartment?"

"We used a key," Thomas responded.

"Where'd you get the key?"

"Everyone knows you keep a spare key in the lining of your hat."

James emitted a growl and stormed away. "And if Philip broke anything, you're paying for the damages to my room!"


	2. Chapter 2: Bill and Ben

After the incident with Philip being taped to the ceiling and Edward getting soaked by a rigged sink, James was plotting to do something to get some sweet payback though he found he had to bide his time. Percy and Thomas were cautious to the extreme and would take tedious steps to cover their tracks so that James had to guess where they were when not on duty and this made things infinitely harder. So, he decided to turn to the experts on mischief. They were available and James went to Tidmouth after his own shift was done.

"James!" Bill (or was it Ben?) came running over and gave a high five but it more or less became a slap to James' face as he didn't expect the greeting.

"Ouch!" James yelped, swatting at the other. "Bill! Don't go around slapping people. Now my cheek stings and it'll be red."

"That's what you're concerned about? Don't you carry foundation to cover those red spots?" The twin teased, and gave a sly smile. He adjusted his nametag to reveal 'Ben'.

"I don't have time to put on more makeup, I need to talk to you. I know you've heard about what happened with Philip."

"Taping him to your ceiling? That's genius! We need to think of something similar. Bill! Do you think we could tape Ryan to Diesel's ceiling?"

"Why not tape Daisy?"

"You can't just tape a lady to a ceiling! Bill, I can't believe you even thought of that! I should tape you to Timothy's ceiling."

The two twins went back and forth arguing only for James to seperate them and give a loud, forceful cough. "Ahem! I don't have much time left so I need to ask you to pull a prank on Percy and Thomas. Something that rivals what they did with Philip."

Ben raised an eyebrow and gave a quirky grin. "I dunno. Bill, do you think James can afford our rates?"

"I don't know if he can. Our rates are pretty high, especially for mischief on the expert level. Maybe we should offer him something from the discount prank bin of ideas?"

"We should!"

James was getting tired of all of this and so he raised his hands, exasperated by the nonsense. "You know what? I'll ask Donald and Douglas to help."

That made both twins shut up and give James a scrutinizing glare. Bill flicked his hair back and Ben tapped a foot on the ground. "You wouldn't dare ask one of them to do a prank!"

"They can't even go a meter without bickering! You need someone who is quiet. Like us!"

"Yes, but they don't charge for their pranks. And I'm sure they'll be able to come up with something much more creative."

Ben pushed his brother aside. "Much more creative? I'm a bit cross we didn't think of the taping to the ceiling. That's probably because we'll come up with something better!"

Bill gave an enthusiastic nod. "Yes! Okay, James, we won't charge you for this prank. But you should feel privileged. We usually charge for something of ninja skill."

"Yeah, ninja skill!"

James emitted a sigh. "Look, can you both go and do your prank?"

"Don't you want to know what we're doing?" Bill had already gotten his phone out and was scrolling through the internet for ideas.

"I'd rather keep as distant as I can from this prank."

"So we have to take all of the blame, I bet," both twins snapped.

"No, so you get to have all the glory." James got out some money and placed it in Ben's hand. "Go order a tea or something. Tea helps you think of pranks to do."

And with that, James turned around and headed for his car. This left Bill and Ben in Tidmouth to do all of their plotting. They wasted no time in ordering a hot drink and sitting down at a table outside in the beautiful weather. Bill got out a notebook and pencil, spinning it around on the table a bit.

"Ask Donald and Douglas to do a prank," Bill said. "Do you think James is getting old?"

"He's almost thirty. That's pretty ancient if you're in football."

"Do we have tickets for the next football game?"

"I thought you were the one buying."

And so they talked about the next football game before one of their phones buzzed with a text from James, reading something along the lines of Bill and Ben should get back to their planning.

"I think he's psychic," Ben whispered.

"Nevermind that! I know what we could do. We could replace Thomas's lunch with a fake tuckbox! Or give him a fake tuckbox. Maybe it'll have rocks instead of sweets."

"We could tape a picture of Thomas's face to his favorite locomotive."

"That's a good one! Thomas the Saddle Tank Engine. So do we put Percy's face on his favorite engine?"

"That one is too obvious. No repeats. Oh! You know the tea that he keeps in the break room? Let's replace all of the tea bags with bags of peppercorn! He'll think he has a lovely cup of tea, but it'll be nasty peppercorns instead!"

"I'll print out a big picture of Thomas's face!"

"I'll go and get the peppercorns and replace the tea!"

Ben took off running to go and print out the picture and Bill set off to painstakingly replace black tea with peppercorns. The latter would run straight into Gordon but before he could be scolded, Bill was already out of sight and that left the older engineer rather cross. But Gordon would have to just suck it up and continue on his way.

The break room was open, as usual, and Emily was eating some biscuits. She nodded at Bill as he came on in.

"What're you doing, Bill?"

"I'm looking for the tea that Percy likes. I want to buy some but I need the box for reference."

"He keeps his tea over there, behind the biscuit jar." Emily pointed and continued eating her snack. "I don't think he'll mind if you took some. It's quite good, actually."

Bill slipped the box into his pockets and quickly left, and Emily didn't notice him leaving. She turned around to talk but found that the other had already left.

During the night Bill and Ben were sneaking around. With great care they placed the box of tea back in the break room and it was filled with tea bags where the leaves had been replaced with black peppercorns. The twins kept laughing even as they left the room and went for the sheds where the locomotives were kept.

"Bill, which locomotive is Thomas's favorite?"

"I thought you knew. Is it the blue one?"

"Ah! Yeah, it must be the blue one. Lemme see the picture of Thomas. Alright!"

It was a big picture of Thomas's face, one taken from a social media site. A rather silly picture, too. Ben taped the photo to a blue locomotive and they proceeded to sneak back out. They had to dodge the nightwatch but that was easy and they made it to their apartment flat without any problems.


	3. Chapter 3: Wrong Engine

Gordon was not impressed the next morning, emitting an angry shout before kicking over a wooden crate. He hurt his foot on the crate and fell back while swearing loudly. He pointed at Percy and Thomas who were just arriving into the shed, an accusing finger focusing on the younger engineer - Thomas.

"You!" Gordon shouted. "You put that… that THING on my locomotive! It gave Henry a major fright when he saw it!" He gestured at the number four locomotive, which had a gigantic photo of Thomas's face attached to the front.

"What?" Thomas peered at the strange sight and found that he wanted to break up. It was a photo that had been taken half a year ago where he had made a ridiculous face into his camera. Truly a masterpiece.

Percy, who had also taken notice of the locomotive, emitted an incredibly loud laugh, clapping his hands together. "That's too good! Thomas, did you put your face on engine four? I can't believe you did that!" Percy combed his hands through his brown hair and kept laughing, so a lock of hair fell onto his face. "I'd think you'd put your face on engine one!"

"I didn't put it there," Thomas replied. He stepped closer to Percy to get further away from Gordon. "I'd put that one picture of Gordon when he sneezed on engine four."

Either way, Gordon grabbed Thomas by the shoulders and pushed him towards the locomotive. "Get it off of my engine." He was quite mad at what he was seeing.

"Get it off of your engine? But I didn't put it there!" Thomas argued.

"I'll get it down," Percy said and he went over to the locomotive but Gordon told him to stop.

"I don't want you touching my locomotive, Percy. It's much too big of an engine for you to handle. You'd probably hurt yourself."

Percy emitted a loud sigh and stepped away. "A steam engine is a steam engine is a steam engine, but I won't touch your silly tender engine."

"And that's how it should be. Thomas, if you don't remove that abomination from my train this instant, I will let the Fat Controller know that you're interfering with the safety of steam locomotives!"

"You know what?" Someone came pushing past Percy. It was Henry, clad in his blue wool uniform and already sweating. "I'll take it down. It scared me this morning but I guess it is funny. But don't do that again, Thomas." He climbed up and peeled the picture off carefully. He waved it around in the air a bit. "Maybe it'll look good in the break room?"

"Just throw it away, Henry." Gordon went climbing into the cab to get things ready. "We have an Express to pull! I'm engineer today, Henry is fireman. Edward will be the guard. Thomas, go with your friend and shunt the coaches over here. Where's Edward?"

"I'm here, I'm here," Edward replied and he was holding a set of keys. "I inspected my train already so I can safety spot you for coupling up. Thomas, Percy, you're working with engine six today. The Fat Controller has already briefed me and engine one needs to be cleaned and looked over so you'll probably shunt it over to the Steamworks. That, or Diesel and Paxton will come over. Pay attention to the radio."

They set off to do their work and got the assigned locomotives ready to go. As Percy climbed into the cab of engine six, he saw Edward motion towards him.

"And I'll be careful coupling up the coaches!" Edward said.

Percy scowled and shook his head, nudging Thomas a bit. He rolled his eyes.

"You make one mistake working with an American coupler, and no one lets you live it down!" He shook his left hand, which was lacking two fingers, the ring and little finger. "It's only two, I still have eight more fingers."

"Who's going to be our guard for today?" Thomas asked.

"I thought you checked the schedule. Oh! I think it's… Emily! Emily, are you the guard for us?" Percy waved at the woman as she approached and she waved back.

"Hi! Sorry I'm late, but Diesel was already out with Paxton and they just had to give me a hard time. Let me get ready and we can do our shove out of the station." She got situated and started to give car counts. "We can probably skip the safety stop for coupling up to the Express. I'm switching to using the radio."

There was no problem with getting the first jobs done and as soon as the Express was shunted and coupled up to engine four, the air brakes were connected and beginning to charge. Thomas got his engine to move back and watched as the Express pulled away. He glanced at Percy, who was carrying a tea thermos. Percy noticed him and gave a quick smile before focusing on his tea. Thomas was going to return the grin but he was nudged by Emily, who was looking over a sheet of paper.

"What's next?" Emily asked. "Wait, I think Diesel is taking engine one down to the Steamworks. We're going to be working the farm view ride, so we need to get coupled to the coaches. Annie and Clarabel should be arriving soon to get the coaches ready. It'll look a bit odd, I think."

"Most people expect engine one for the farm view," Thomas commented. "Engine six isn't standard. Philip and Sidney will probably come to provide assistance. It's funny how engine six isn't made for pulling trains but they still make it." He gave Percy a playful shove.

"It is my favorite engine," Percy replied and he rubbed his shoulder. "That was rather hard, Thomas. You might break my arm."

It was meant as a joke but Thomas did step back a little, not wanting to bump into his friend. It seemed like if he did Percy might just shatter, but Thomas was just being paranoid because after being given a warning or a suggestion, he did become hyper aware of things. Percy was actually incredibly husky in build, unlike Thomas who was a string bean.

Not that Thomas had a problem with how Percy was built. He thought it looked charming, in a way. He wanted to stand closer to Percy but the way the other was working, being a fireman, put Thomas at risk of getting hit with a shovel. But staring at his friend wouldn't get the jobs done. When they were coupled up with their coaches and the two car attendants were getting ready, Thomas watched as Percy got his tea thermos out and took a long sip.

"Cor blimey!"

It came as a surprise when Percy spewed water and leaned over the side of the cab, spitting and coughing. He looked at his thermos and took out the tea bag, and gave it a quick whiff. He handed it over to Thomas.

"Smells like pepper," Thomas said, and Percy nodded.

"Who would put bloody peppercorns in my tea?" Percy tossed the 'tea' out of the thermos. "I won't be able to get this taste out of my mouth. Who does this? Who?"

"Maybe it's whoever put my face on engine four." Thomas looked out the cab and saw Emily moving about. "But it can't be that bad."

Percy shrugged. "I just hope I can get actual tea, though. Wait. Gordon - Gordon usually takes tea from the box. He thinks I don't know but Emily tells me about it. Thomas, you don't think that Gordon got some of those peppercorns instead of tea? He'll think I was the one who did that."

"But you didn't," Thomas pointed out.

"Well, Gordon doesn't really listen to what I say."

"He listens," Thomas said. "Emily! We ready to head to the station?"

"Yes, Thomas!" Emily replied and they were off to get passengers.

They passed by James who gave a slight wave. He gave an odd look at the two in the cab. Percy leaned out the cab and gave James the finger using his left hand. He might be missing two but he still had the middle finger. James returned the lewd gesture.

"Percy! You shouldn't do that, a tourist could see you."

"But they didn't," Percy replied, and they both laughed.

Thomas enjoyed hearing his friend laugh and he could feel a blush in his cheeks. He didn't look at his friend as they were working.

"Percy?"

"Yes, Thomas?"

"Eheh… nevermind."

There was a stifling silence in the cab which was only broken as Thomas communicated with Emily via radio.


	4. Chapter 4: Peppercorns

Thomas was on break when he saw Gordon approaching. The older engineer was furious, face red and his brow furrowed. In a few strides Gordon was right next to Thomas and Thomas could feel a hand on his shoulder before being whipped around to face the other. Gordon was practically emitting an aura of anger.

"Alright, where's Percy?" Gordon demanded.

"The loo," Thomas stuttered. "Why? What happened?"

"That doesn't matter. It's none of your business," Gordon said. "I don't know what you see in him. He's cheeky enough but this time he's crossed the line." And he stormed off, boots stomping on the ground.

Henry had come over by that time with a platter of biscuits which he set down in the breakroom. "Gordon? I brought some biscuits!"

"Keep your bleeding biscuits, I have to deal with Percy!" was the answer.

"Gordon isn't too happy," Henry sighed. He offered a biscuit to Thomas. "I don't know what happened, except for he found his tea was peppercorns instead. Never seen Gordon so cross. He thinks it was Percy who-"

Henry was interrupted by sudden yelling, the source clearly being an upset Gordon throwing all of the blame on Percy. Both Henry and Thomas covered their ears from the sound and stepped back when Emily came storming past them. Edward wasn't too far behind, already using his phone to call the Fat Controller and let him know that there was a major dispute going on in the sheds right near the break room.

"I think it's Gordon, he's telling Percy off for something that happened. Peppercorns in the tea? Mmmm. Yes, I think it's the tea that he keeps behind the biscuits. Very well, sir. Thank you, sir." And Edward promptly hung up and followed Emily.

"You leave him alone, Gordon!" Emily had gotten right up into Gordon's face, having stepped in front of Percy. She was strongly built and tall, nearly eye level with Gordon. "Maybe you shouldn't be taking tea without asking! Then you go and blame poor Percy here for something you did!"

"That silly fireman knew I was borrowing tea and then decided he should replace it! What ever happened to politely asking for a change?"

"I didn't put peppercorns in the tea, Gordon. It's not just silly, that's a downright rude thing to do." Percy had crossed his arms and situated himself next to Emily. "And I don't mind you taking tea, but it would help if you didn't just take without asking."

Gordon threw his hands into the air. "Lies! You will definitely never be allowed in the cab of engine four. I'll see to it that the Fat Controller knows exactly what you've done, Percy."

"Are you only hearing what you want to hear?" Emily asked. "I think Gordon is only hearing what he wants to hear!"

"Because I won't accept anything less than the truth. But I can see you aren't going to listen." Gordon scowled and turned around. "I'm heading back to my engine."

"Fine. Maybe your engine will finally get things past your thick skull." Emily's reply was sharp and bitter, but she turned to face Percy. "Gordon gives a lot of guff. I know you didn't do anything with the tea."

Percy shrugged. "I guess he's right to blame me, though. Who else would do something like that? But Gordon blames me for almost every small thing that happens that makes him cross."

"I guess he just enjoys blaming other people," Emily replied. "Wait. I know who replaced all of the tea bags. Bill! Or was it Ben? I can't tell unless they have their name tags on. I remember one of them was in the break room yesterday, asking where you kept the tea."

"That's odd. I thought they usually kept their pranks directed towards Timothy or Thomas. I think I'll have to go and talk to them about what they did." Percy started to walk away but Emily tapped him on the shoulder.

"You're not upset with what Gordon said, are you? He talks big but he doesn't mean all of it." Emily was looking Percy over for any reaction but he didn't have one.

"He's silly. I think he enjoys blaming me for things. Maybe I shouldn't have been so cheeky to him when I first arrived." Percy was looking over at Thomas. "I'll be right over, we should go back to work." He was visibly trembling, clearly a little distressed from the encounter with Gordon, but he still was able to smile and that was good enough for Thomas.

On the last ride of the day, engine six was beginning to not run as well so they stopped at a siding to wait for a helper engine to shove back to the station. From the cab they could hear the kids shrieking in the coaches, the kind of fake screaming that kids will do when they pretend to be scared. Oh, no! The train stopped. Something bad must be happening! But they were only waiting for the diesel helper.

"Umm. Uh. Sidney to engine… engine..." Sidney's voice came across loud on the radio and Thomas immediately responded.

"Engine six?"

"Yeah. Engine six. We're a few coaches away, and we'll be coupling up behind you. Do you have your guard on the ground?"

"I'm on the ground," Emily cut in. "Let's couple up and return to the station. I'll spot you. Let's switch to hand signals so we aren't clogging the radio. I'll let you know when we're ready to go, okay, Thomas?"

While they were attaching the locomotive to the end of the passenger train Thomas turned to look at Percy.

"You look like your day isn't going so well, Percy."

"Good observation. I guess I'm a little sad because of how Gordon was treating me, but I guess he's just like that. I'm going to talk to Bill and Ben after work. Did you want to come with me?"

"Of course! I know they like to tease. What kind of friend would I be if I let you face them all alone?" Thomas laughed and gave Percy a playful shove.

"Either way, you're still my best friend." And Percy returned a shove, though with a bit more strength and Thomas had to stumble to regain his footing.

"Maybe we shouldn't be shoving in the cab of a steam engine," Thomas observed and Percy laughed.

"I wish I knew that sooner. I didn't push too hard, did I?"

"No, no. Oh! I think Emily is ready to get going." Thomas held up the radio and spoke into it. "Did I hear that correctly? We're ready?"

"Ready as we'll ever be," Emily replied.

A nasal voice cut right in, already laughing. One could almost see Diesel smirking as he spoke into his radio. "All right, steamies, let's go. I have an important and modern engine to be working with."

"By modern you mean a 1950s locomotive," Thomas bit back. "Alright. I'll sound the whistle and we can go."

"Nyeheheheheh," was the response from the radio before it clicked off. It sounded like Diesel was ready to move.

The return journey wasn't so bad, and the guests weren't too upset with arriving late after the tourist ride. Some of them had, in fact, enjoyed having extra time in the coaches. Annie and Clarabel were overworked, though, having been passing out water bottles to all of the passengers and wrestling with the occasional window. The two attendants were quick to dismiss themselves and head to clock out of work.

"Need anything else, you steamie drivers?" Diesel cackled. "Or can I return to my very important job?"

"What's your important job?" Thomas asked.

There was a pause and Diesel emitted a loud swear. "Apparently my job has been changed to shoving you and your consist to the sheds. Then I have to switch those silly coaches and bring them to the siding." He emitted a snarky laugh. "Maybe I'll be so upset that I'll put peppercorns in your tea, Thomas. Heheh!"

"Oh, stop being so horrid," Emily replied. "The more you talk the longer you have to put up with us."

"I can put up with you more than I can with Thomas."

"Diesel! That's no way to be talking!" Thomas radioed back.

"Alright, alright. Sowwy about that. Don't want your feewings getting hurt." Diesel gave his locomotive a few quick blasts of the horn and they were off.

"Diesel knows that the peppercorns are more closely tied to me than you, right?" Percy whispered.

"Diesel doesn't have very good eyesight, I think he gets us confused."

"Apparently his eyesight is good enough to distinguish colors."

Upon returning to the station and getting things ready for the night, making sure that everything that needed to be put away was in the right place, Percy and Thomas went to sign out for the day. They bid goodbye to Emily.

"Thomas, are you still coming with me to talk to Bill and Ben?"

"Of course! I know where they are, too. They usually head to Knapford after work. At least when they don't work the next day."

"More than likely to get piss drunk," Percy replied and they both laughed. "Let's take the bus. I don't feel like driving to Knapford."

And so the two friends went to the bus stop and hoped to arrive in Knapford in time to at least be able to track down the two troublesome twins, Bill and Ben.


	5. Chapter 5: Outburst

True to form, Bill and Ben were sitting inside a pub while preparing to celebrate a day of work well done. Thomas saw them sitting inside and motioned for Percy to come over. Percy saw them and went into the pub, pushing right past Thomas. Surprised by his friend's haste, Thomas kept close behind. Bill and Ben looked up at the same time.

"Thomas! Percy! If we had known you were visiting-"

"-we would have ordered you something to drink!"

"Did one of you replace my tea with peppercorns?" Percy asked, cutting right to the question. "Because if you did, Gordon didn't find it funny."

"Well Gordon has no sense of humor," Ben said.

"I guess I have no sense of humor, either, because I didn't appreciate Gordon getting mad at me for something you did."

"Blaming us for it already? What happened to asking us if we did it?" Bill asked, feigning innocence by batting his eyelashes together. He couldn't keep a straight face and broke into laughter. "But peppercorns were such a good idea! Did you like how we put Thomas's face on his favorite locomotive?"

"You didn't even put it on the right engine! You put it on engine four, which is Gordon's favorite engine. Do you know anything about us?" Percy was getting flustered.

"How should we know which one it is? It's a blue engine, and that was the first engine we saw," Ben protested. "And it's not our fault if Gordon didn't find it funny. I don't think he'd know funny if it kicked him in the boot!"

"And Gordon got mad at me for something he thinks I did."

"Then what do you want us to do?" the twins asked.

"Apologize!"

Ben raised an eyebrow while Bill emitted a soft cough.

"Why should we apologize? It's not our fault that Gordon got mad."

"You should be apologizing to us, because you think we're to blame."

"Yeah, shouldn't you be saying sorry?"

"I thought Percy was better than just blaming the innocent."

"I sure thought so, too."

Bill and Ben continued to speak rapid-fire, making it hard for Thomas to keep up with who was saying what. However, Thomas stepped back when Percy slammed his hands down onto the bar. That made both twins clam up and they recoiled, surprised at the sudden outburst. People in the pub had turned to look at the four. Percy was oblivious to the gathering attention and he grappled at Bill.

"What're you doing?" Thomas asked, but he didn't get an answer. Instead, he watched as Percy gave Bill a hard shove, causing the younger man to fall backwards.

"Percy!" Ben caught his brother and backed away. "What's going on?"

"What happens when you don't apologize!" Percy replied. "I want to hear that you're sorry for what happened."

"And what if you don't hear a peep from us?" Ben snapped, but he shrank away when Percy approached. "Thomas! I think your friend is a bit nutty."

"Percy, what on earth are you doing?" Thomas grabbed Percy by the shoulder.

By that time Percy had stopped and he was still shaking with anger. He pointed an accusing finger at Bill and Ben.

"I want to hear an apology. That's all I want. Say that you're sorry for replacing my tea with peppercorns!"

"It's only a silly joke," Bill whispered. He was hiding behind his twin.

"A silly joke that cost me working on the Express!"

Thomas stepped in, his skinny frame blocking the twins from Percy. "Is that what it's all about, Percy? Working on the Express? Is that what you're mad about? It's not worth bullocks to work on that train. And not a reason to get mad at our friends!"

Percy paused and took a deep breath and sighed. His shoulders dropped and he turned to face the side. "I… I overreacted. I'm really sorry, Bill and Ben. Gordon just got so cross and it was wrong for me to take my anger out on you."

Bill and Ben were still cowering but one of them raised a hand. "And we're sorry that we replaced your tea with peppercorns!"

"Do you have the tea bags?" Thomas asked, and he frowned when Bill grimaced.

"We gave it to Donald and Douglas."

Percy looked as though he were about to get angry again but he stopped. "I guess I'll have to buy a new box. I'm leaving. I'm heading to my apartment." He fished through his pockets and placed some money down near the twins.

"We don't need money," Bill said.

"I'm sorry for how I reacted. Please, at least take it and allow me to pay for your drinks."

"He's offering us money," Ben said.

"Thanks, Percy. Uh. We won't use peppercorns anymore."

The twins remained at the bar as Thomas and Percy left, too scared to say anything else in case they upset Percy again. Both made a mental note to never confront Percy alone. Once the two were out of sight, Bill emitted a loud sigh of relief.

"I didn't think he was capable of being mad," Bill said.

"You say mad, but I think he was acting nutty," Ben replied.

"He's a solid one. He gave me a pretty big push. I nearly fell."

"If Thomas wasn't here, we'd probably be thrown this way and that."

"Or this that and way!"

Thomas walked with Percy to his car. He didn't have a car of his own as he usually carpooled. Still tense from the encounter in the pub, Thomas got into the passenger seat and got his seat belt across. After a moment of silence he looked at his friend. Percy was sitting still in the driver's seat, leaning over just a bit.

"What was that all about, Percy?" Thomas was concerned, and he reached a hand to his friend but Percy remained still.

"I don't know, Thomas. I'll drop you off at your apartment."

Thomas knit his eyebrows together and frowned. "I don't want to see you be so angry. At least let me stay with you until you calm down."

"I'm just going to blast through some workouts, but I guess if you want to watch you're completely welcome to."

They drove in silence except for Thomas occasionally adjusting the car's radio to change stations. Neither talked until Percy opened the door to his apartment and invited Thomas to come on in. It was a small apartment, probably four rooms big or so. It was a newer style apartment inside a refurbished building. Thomas lived in a smaller apartment maybe a kilometer or so away. Thomas took a seat at the couch as Percy excused himself.

"You can watch something on the telly," Percy said.

"That's okay," Thomas replied. He got out his phone and checked notifications. Apparently James had sent a selfie decorated with pink hearts.

After a few minutes Percy came back to the room and was dressed in loose fitting clothes. He grabbed a medicine ball, the type you see on infomercials, and looked over at Thomas.

"You really want to just sit there as I work out?"

"You want me to join?"

"There's another medicine ball. It's a bit lighter. I'll take that one and you can have the one I'm holding."

Thomas politely declined the offer and got the smaller medicine ball. He did regret choosing to exercise and had problems keeping up with Percy. Halfway through Thomas was sweating and shaking, due to being skinny in frame. Percy, on the other hand, seemed focused and almost like he was putting anger and frustration into the workout. Once they were finished he slammed the medicine ball onto the floor but winced as it made a loud thud.

"I doubt your neighbors would mind," Thomas said. "Are you feeling better?"

"A bit less flustered," Percy replied. "I don't know what came over me back at the pub. I'm just so frustrated with what happened. Gordon's blaming me for something I didn't do."

"But that's just what Gordon does."

"I don't really like what Gordon does." Percy checked his phone and his frown turned into a grin. "Look at this picture of James. All the hearts he can put on the photo won't hide his crow's feet."

They both were laughing at the picture of James. Thomas was laughing more than Percy, though.

"I don't know why but I really want to work on the Express. Even as a guard," Percy said. "I know I usually work with the tank engines but I want to work with engine four."

"If you want a tender engine, engine two will be running tomorrow. You could take my shift as fireman. I'm sure Edward won't mind."

"Thank you, but I'm assigned to work with Sidney and Paxton. I'm showing Sidney how to be a driver, even though I mainly work with steam engines. But the others are too busy." Percy shrugged. "Sidney is forgetful but he usually remembers what I say. And I don't think you want to teach how to drive a diesel locomotive."

Thomas laughed at that. "Yeah, I don't like working with diesels."

Both of them were sitting on the couch and Thomas was eyeing Percy. Percy was too busy focusing on his phone to notice or care as Thomas slid a bit closer. Thomas felt awkward without any warning and slid back to where he had been sitting. Again, Percy didn't take any notice. He set down his phone and emitted an exasperated sigh.

"Getting mad that I can't work on the Express. That is a rather silly thing. Maybe I'll convince Henry or James to trade shifts with me someday."

"What's so important about the Express?" Thomas asked.

"I want to work on a big engine, and besides, the others don't think I'm strong or brave enough to work on a tender engine. Or that I'm a safety issue." He looked at his left hand, at the spot where he was missing two fingers. "What's it like working on the Express, Thomas?"

"Nothing special," Thomas replied. Percy merely gave a nod in return but his mood had seemed to have dropped a bit. Try as he might Thomas wasn't able to get Percy to say anything more about the Express, instead finding that the other switched topics until finally it was time for Thomas to head home.

"You want a ride?"

"I'll walk. It's not too far," Thomas replied.


End file.
